the birth of the squick

Random moment of squickery. And this is not related at all to anything except I got to thinking on my primary squicks and wondered if anyone else had really weird ones.

I mean, I have like, one major pairing squick (will run in the other direction and occasionally refilter my flist to avoid seeing even mention--yes, I know, My neuroses and I are one), and a few minor ones in SGA. But I developed this entire host of bizarre characterization squicks as well that always throw me, because honestly, there is no way to warn for them, some people have entirely differnet ways of seeing the character--which is fine! I swear! Except the sociopathic John thing, that is just stupid--okay, and the robot-of-no-real-emotions John thing, also mindblowingly stupid--but beyond that. And weird, *weird* plot squicks. And there's this entire *litany* of John-related and Rodney-related almost-squicks--I'll read them if this person write it, but not that person, and I'll only read it if this person was making me pre-read it early on and I'm allowed to insert such comments as WHY DID YOU DO THAT? EXPLAIN DAMMIT and then they do, and then I'm okay (see Astolat's Tango for fic that first squicked me, then much later, after a line by line with Amireal, really loving it and adding to re-read list). And I think Bone is still the only person I can read John/Ronon from, and I think a lot of that is because I was reading it well before I hardened into my OTP, and a lot of it because no other character suffered for the making of the pairing, which some John/Ronon fics I read seemed to have at least some bit of Rodney-left-out-and-hurt, which kind of sours it.

But okay, I'm asking for other people to tell me their weird squicks, I'll tell a few of the less-humiliating ones. I just want to feel less weird.



1.) partner betrayal - this is a stop-traffic squick. I'd like to thank rageprufrock for destroying my soul, because it's Pru and I read it, even though I knew I'd be homicidal before, during, and after. I love you, Pru, but OHMYGOD Directional Theory. Still not over that one. Immortality. Never, ever getting over that one. And that's been five years! Even the implications of it get to me in some really weird, primal way. Even if it's *informal*, I get mildly freaked out. But I am weird, and I embrace my weirdness.

2.) consensual non-con - okay, just go with this one. One of the characters wants to have sex, the other doesn't, or doesn't want it to have this certain kind of sex, first person drugs them and/or ties them up, they still say no, but then there's orgasm and they really really like it! *thinks* This also goes for the aliens made them have sex, but only when after, there seems to be no consequences, becuase the second person is still a-okay with everything even though they were totally not okay beforehand or even most of during, and the first person is smugly sure he did everyhing perfectly, which I have read not as many times as the first kind, but still, really, ewww. Okay, I have read some I could get through like that, and some I couldn't, and I think a lot depends on how I read author intent. eleveninches fic Them Other Boys Don't Know How to Act didn't even ping me on the freak-o-meter, but part of that is a.) I know her b.) she gave me a pre-fic synopsis so I knew exactly what I would be getting into and c.) I've read her fic enough to see where her characterization comes from, and so could go with it and laugh hysterically. Because honestly, that was funny.

3.) humiliation for use of teaching character a lesson - it's not conditional, I will always, always, always hate it (see some of the post-Trinities for dramatic interpretations on both sides; Rodney the trod-upon and bullied by everyone and cutting himself while people hope he suicides and John and Elizabeth teh evil monsters destroying his soul with their cruelty, cause for serious--wtf?). There are two or three really good fics that made me flinch with the humiliation teaches this character an important lesson--Transcendental is an excellent fic with a good example of John-learning-to-take-orders, and after my first few reads, I discovered the fine art of skipping the key points and moving to the fun plotty stuff again. And it's never come close to a few of the others that try to Teach Rodney To Be A Better Person, or John To Be More Emotionally Open, or Rodney To Not Take John For Granted or...yeah.

3b. Humiliation in general, but this is slippery-slope and there's no solid rule here. I just learned to hit back really really fast. More often than not, back. I think it honestly depends on how I read author intent in this one. Sometimes it's hysterical and funny and fun and reads like it, and sometimes, or a lot of time, it reads like a grudge against a certain character.

4.) death fic - this isn't as much a squick as a generalized preference of never, ever seeing it. Even long after post-death. I've read a few and some were good and a couple were great, and still, no.

5.) Anything At All To Do With Anyone Turned Into a Sex Slave. Period and end. I have yet to read a fic that can convince me otherwise. At least, not since 2005.

6.) Anything With Mutilation - I have been persuaded to a few. It took a lot of persuasion. And three people in chat telling me, they promised, I would love it. I would not want to kill them. I really, really wouldn't. They promised, promised, promised. They know I know where they lived. But general rule--no.

7.) Grudgefic - being OTC more than OTP half the time, you cannot freak me out more than by writing an entire story explaining how much John sucks as a human being and Rodney putting up with him and John's unspeakable gratefulness for it. Drives me *nuts*. Rodney doesn't get that treatmetn quite as much--well, outside a few key archives--but teh back button is well exercised. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get grudgefic--I who turned Lana into a heroin addict prostitute, special hell for that one--but see OTC and OTP. Squick. Anytime you spend an entire story punishing a character--oh God, that one with John agreeing he totally deserved to be drugged into Rodney's slave because he told Cameron about the lemon, Jesus H--no. Seriously. I am totally back button girl. And will possibly whimper about it to svmadelyn.

Hmm. Codicil to 7 - a lot of my issues with fic outside this list do have a great deal to do with John. I'm really not going to apologize for that one--I don't flame the authors or do antirecs or wander around talking about how much Author A sucks, but I'm not going to be sorry I can't read something I think just uses John in ways that to me make no sense. But I have found over time my patience gets thinned by my perception of either OOC or character abuse and there's this short list in my head of authors I simply don't trust and can no longer read without a specific rec from someone who knows me well enough, and some people write fic that to me, was so *wrong* I can't read anything else they write, because of that one fic, so all fics after it have that intent behind it. Which is freakishly limiting--there are reasons I trust implicitly anything ltlj recs, because I've read every one of her fics and her characterization of John, to me, is spot-on--and a couple of other reccers that tend toward the same taste I have. And I do recognize this is a taste issue--every fic I've mentined here is fic I like a lot, for various reasons, but is also fic that had a squick factor for me--it's not a quality issue. I don't tend to talk about fic I hated. It causes fine lines and early aging.

But sometimes--and this is just sometimes--I get the crazy feeling that it's not quite done anymore to have fairly specific tastes in fic, or to not like something due to those tastes, and the warnings debates had a side issue wandering through in a few ljs that seemed to emphasize the fact that if you have an issue with a particular kind of fic, you have a serious problem. I cannot read unequal OT3 or OT4, unless the author is basically Pru, or anything Rodney/Ronon period and end right there, and have come to really flinch around Sheppard/Weir. Some Ronon fic has started to get on my nerves, which means I'm skipping that pretty much consistently outside a specific rec, and some Weir fic have done the same thing. I get weird about John/Teyla now, and don't read it as much as I used to. The longer I'm in SGA, the more rigid the squicks and tastes have become, too. And there is definitely a--hmm. Maybe a generalized feeling that if you aren't reading all of it, or don't like some aspects of something, you're just not open minded enough. I am perfectly okay with everyone having their own take on characters, their own pairings, etc--except the sociopahtic John thing, God, just stop that shit--I just quietly, for the most part, exercise my option to stop and say "wow, that totally did not work for me at all."

The thing is, a squick is less a voluntary choice than a start of surprise, a "I am not enjoying this at all" and finding a pattern in it. Reading outside that is impossible, at least for me--if squick is hit, I cannot enjoy. If I do not enjoy, I stop doing it. It's not a personal judgement on the writer, though I can see, and have felt sometimes when I hit someone's squicks, that it can seem that way. It can also seem like a judgement--the non-con-really-he-meant-it I actually do get is a fantasy type and I don't actually think the authors are fine with rape and rohypnol being an awesome dating tool. And there is the part of me that knows that what we read is only a fraction of what the author really meant to get across, and what I get out of it can be diametrically opposite to what they meant. But the thing is, my reading will always trump author intent, with a few key DVD commentary exceptions that i have read that explained a lot something that bothered or confused me.

But saying what I do and do not like--outside those fandomwide things that everyone will claim--does feel sometimes like I'm quietly stepping on a landmine and waiting for it to blow. And I say this as someone who got feedback about The Principle of Exclusion stating that poor Rod was humiliated and ostracized by everyone--and you know, did my freakout in private that my author intent did not get the right thing across. I know that what we read isn't always the same as what the author meant.

Okay, now, so I feel less like a black peep at Easter--squicks? Issues? Oooh. In case I offended someone,and I'm pretty sure someone had to have been, I openly throw this one out--have I written anything that squicked you? How and why?

Comments

[eleveninches.livejournal.com]

Oh God, humiliation squick. If I read something that makes me feel embarrassed, I can't finish it.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*nods sadly* The twitch-wince-and run method. I know it well.

[sinsense.livejournal.com]

Very similar squicks as you, generally; I particularly have problems with cheating and humiliation. Cheating is what will always make me hit the back button. I've read some things in RPS where I know that the person has a real life partner, and technically has one in the timeline of the fic, but as long as they are not mentioned, or the author establishes that the two have broken up, I'm fine. The second the girl/boyfriend is mentioned and dismissed as unimportant, I hit the back button. Sometimes even if the ramifications of cheating are dealt with, I'm still squicked.

I've been able to read fic with humiliation in the past, but I dislike the sort of one-sided presentation of it, where -- egad, dividing line is difficult to articulate -- one character is doing something utterly embarrassing, and there's no redeeming emotion or motivation behind their embarrassing behavior. This is why I have difficulty with some of Ben Stiller's movies, for example.

This one's really petty and weird, but for sex scenes, I don't like romantic sex. Or, I guess, really romantic sex, with love and flowers and whispering of each others' names. It really bothers me, for some reason, which I can't really explain.

Interesting concept, anyway. I wrote more in response than I expected to, so apologies for that.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oh feel free. It's nice to know I'm not alone in just finding some things I can't read beyond. And I like lengthy answers!

Interesting with the RPS--I don't read much, and what I read luckily always had two characters without real life significant others at the time of reading.

I kind of wish I could get an example of the dividing line, but I think I know what you're talking about there. *grr* Ben Stiller. Yeah.

[moojja.livejournal.com]

Number three, especially public humiliation, I can't stand them.

Before I used to like Sociopahtic!John, but as not anymore. Being in the military doesn't make you a sociopath, and John never cause harm for harm sakes.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I used to read it, too, but the ones I read had a lot of--hmm. I'm trying to think. The author really worked to make the audience eblieve it. I didn't but I could see where it could go. Or very AU as well. But the ones that take it for granted as a character trait--I just cannot deal with it. It's like they just dropped another character in with his name.

[wrenlet.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I totally have squicks... ha! I haven't read QaF fic in YEARS but I am still not over the evil!Mikey and evil!Ted fics. Not ever getting over that.

I'm mostly reading in SPN these days and I cannot handle and will not read/will stop reading: incest involving John, abusive!John... abusive!any-of-the-Winchesters, actually; I've got this thing where the moment I think trust breaks down, I end the story in my head with, "And then somebody died" and hit the back button, because you can't convince me it would end any other way.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Yeah, I skim SPN occasionally and can't even open the incest John ones. It just is totally not my thing.

[epj.livejournal.com]

Amen to the humiliation squick. It just hurts to read (or watch, or hear about...). eep

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*grins* Or have horrible flashbacks of by accident later, when you read and don't hit back fast enough.

Not that that has happened to me or anything....

[eretria.livejournal.com]

You want to feel less weird?
Here are some weird squicks:
1. Anything that has Ronon having sex. I just ... no. No way and nu-uh and just no. He is too much the little brother type for me to even want to think about him having sex.
2. "I love you". There are very, very, very, very few fics in SGA where I can stand reading it. It simply seems unlikely for two people who do not enjoy to talk about their emotions to go and fling those three words around lightly. There are exceptions to that rule, but damn, does it have to be deftly handled.
3. The term "lover" used in fic. Seriously. If that's in a fic, you will have to do a damn lot to keep me, because my scream-and-flight instinct is at full throttle.
4. RPS. Full stop. Not even going there. For various reasons that will get me slammed by RPS fans and writers.
5. AUs. And, yes, I realise that people consider me a snob for it, or just plain weird, but I prefer canon-based stories that aren't AU and thus either skip AUs or hit the back-button with gusto.
6. Genderswitch. See me running for the freaking hills
7. m/m/m threesomes. I have logistics issues.
8. non-con or rape fics. (Not including the very few stories who handle ths subject tastefully) But, we have had this conversation before, I think.

Meanwhile, your points 1-7 aren't weird at all, actually. especially your number 5. Even though I'm curious what happened in 2005 that made you change your mind.

[idiasm.livejournal.com]

Fly-by commenting... agree on the Ronon having sex. Okay, I've read a couple very specific team fics, or ... but when I think about it, it's wrong. I can't handle the wrong. He's not a sexual character, in my mind.

[idiasm.livejournal.com]

I feel this might end up long, and I don't really know you, which could be weird. But... you asked, so.

In terms of what you already listed - partner betrayal, yes muchly. Humiliation? I can't watch things where there's humiliation, and I definitely can't read them. Death depends on how it's done. Sex slavery, if it's slavery to only one master and it is at least somewhat consensual, maybe with happy abolitionist ending, or where it's like faked sex slavery for a certain purpose, that can be hot. Mutilation, maybe if it's better in the end and turns into some good h/c.

But in terms of squicks in general, nudaydreamer is sitting on my couch right now, and we were reading this at the same time, and we were discussing other things - certain words, certain quirks in writing, can be bad, as well. Even if something is a great premise, I can't stand reading it if it's full of typos or bad grammar or similar things.

In terms of something you've written squicking me - I really don't like Mensa!AU. But it's not yours in particular; I can't remember if I've read yours, actually, and I don't think I'm going to go click on it and find out. I read a couple early on, didn't like them, and won't read them now. It doesn't matter the author. I just ... I like normal AUs, if normal is you would say the characterization stays largely the same, and the relationships play out similarly, and all that. But I like our Rodney, and our John, and I don't really like any of the Mensa takes I did read, and it's now off my list. I'm not offended, I just don't click on them, no matter the author. And I've loved pretty much everything else you've written, as far as I can remember.

I think I've gotten pickier by far. I think it's a natural factor of time - you read things you really like, you automatically, even subconsciously, compare everything after to that first one, and sometimes they don't measure up.

Anyway, long, yes, but I don't think having squicks is a bad thing, or unusual.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Interesitng on the MENSA--I read two and hated them so much I never read another one. I liked like, one or two before that--they were totally different entire *concept* universe types (One was sociopathic atlantis, which was fun for me) but the rest was--yes. That feeling I got from them of smug superiority to our canon characters and I hated that. I mean, I'm sure not all of them are that way? But I haven't read again to find out. And--since you brought up Exclusion--I'm pretty sure it might read the same way from a couple of the comments I got, which was kind of illuminating. I was trying, at the time, to write against that idea, that the au characters weren't any better or any worse, just different, with issues just as serious due to those differences--and maybe I disliked how Rod was presented and wanted to clarify his werid behavior. And honestly, i hate writing non-military John, mostly due to the fact that I feel--and this is just me, being weird--perceive this weird military bias, and really hate to add to it.

And hey, I love length. Always.

[wickedwords.livejournal.com]

Wow, you finished Transcendental Oh, go you. I just could not get past my public humiliation squick and finish it. I have a lot of problems with trinity stories, for that very reason.

It's funny, though. If there is a sexual component, I can usually get past it, but otherwise it completely freaks me out.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I loved it! I just--have to skip about twenty pages in the middle and that bit in the beginning, because it still doesn't make sense why Rodney didn't say "Hey, I have a better idea. Let me block their wormhole instead." It also felt anti-military, but honestly, I think that's me being oversensitized to some SGA fic that came after, and I'm pretty sure that's not in the text.

God, Trinity stories.. Do not remind me.

Oddly, yes, with sex, depending on the context. In the established relationship ones with the humiliation thing as part of the sex, I've liked several.

[shusu.livejournal.com]

I get the crazy feeling that it's not quite done anymore to have fairly specific tastes in fic, or to not like something due to those tastes

Durrr? I should hope not. I'll keep saying it: someone's kink is someone's squick and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with either of them. But both are, as you say, not terribly voluntary.

the warnings debates had a side issue wandering through in a few ljs that seemed to emphasize the fact that if you have an issue with a particular kind of fic, you have a serious problem

Whoa fandom, that's... dumb.

My only sticking point is that a lot of broad expressions of taste don't just say "___ makes me feel ___" ... they tend to blanket statements of "___ is FREAKISH! No decent person likes them!"

Which happens to offend a lot of decent people.

Relatedly, it also gets my back up to label an entire genre based on a sample of badly written fics. Not "___ makes me feel ___" but "All ____ is a horrible waste of breath." Which unfortunately can sometimes encompass the majority of fandom. People end up saying things like okay, only writers X and Z and K's takes on the subject are palatable to me, except I happen to know that writers X and Z and K were the *minority* in another fandom where nearly *everyone* churned out good quality fics on the same subject. It freaks out writers who are trying something new when that's the prevailing wind -- it's all too easy to shame them into hiding or dumbing down a certain type of fic because the greater part of fandom is vocal about how nuts it is.

That to me is not a squick. That's a *personal* reading filter. I've watched a lot of rants talk up those filters to the detriment of the people who write those types of fics, the people who enjoy them, and the people who are truly squicked by them. It's not hard to add "I think" to a general statement, sheesh.

In short, I guarantee you that whatever list of fiction squicks you get out of here, it will be identical to a list of fiction kinks. Just with different people.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I think, though, a lot of people aren't actually serious when they say that--the decent people bit, anyway.

People end up saying things like okay, only writers X and Z and K's takes on the subject are palatable to me, except I happen to know that writers X and Z and K were the *minority* in another fandom where nearly *everyone* churned out good quality fics on the same subject. It freaks out writers who are trying something new when that's the prevailing wind -- it's all too easy to shame them into hiding or dumbing down a certain type of fic because the greater part of fandom is vocal about how nuts it is.

Well, but that's normal--some authors, to me, get a free pass on certain subjects, sometimes, if I'm in the right mood and etc. It's just such a heavy codicil to have--I really like X but only if it's by Y and during days I'm really in a bad mood and need a pick up and right after i watch an ep. Every squick I have up there has been codiciled. But when teh codicil is one fic. OR one author? I recognize that it's a squick, that in generla, this particular thing does not work for me.

In short, I guarantee you that whatever list of fiction squicks you get out of here, it will be identical to a list of fiction kinks. Just with different people.

I honestly cannot tell if you're arguing with me. I don't think anywhere I didn't say--multiple times--how this was a personal weirdness list.

[giogio.livejournal.com]

The most wonderful thing about getting into SGA fic about three yers after everyone else is that, so far, I've been able to exercise the back button at the slightest hint of squick without any danger of running out of fic :p

But sometimes--and this is just sometimes--I get the crazy feeling that it's not quite done anymore to have fairly specific tastes in fic, or to not like something due to those tastes,

I think you're right there. Actually, if there's one complaint I have, it's that since I fell face-first into SGA-fic last fall, I haven't really found frequently updated rec pages featuring the kind of quick summaries of stories that would allow me to identify whether the stories being rec'd cater to my fic preferences (tragic, I know!). It's been a few years since the last time I face-planted into a specific fandom, so I might be remembering this wrongly, but it seems to me that there was more of that kind of reccing going on in the past.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Hee! Actually, you're right in a way. There's a lot less wordiness in recs than I like usually--when I check recs, I have to keep in mind who the reccer is and who the author of the fic is, along with the rec, to decide whether to read it.

[cjk1701.livejournal.com]

There's one thing I don't get -- the majority of people I have talked to have a humiliation squick (and man, do I have one. Up to physically cringing and feeling ill and trying to crawl into the other person's pocket, if it's in the cinema) and yet the movie industry makes millions by having humiliation a great gag in every second comedy movie and sitcom. So, what's the deal?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I wonder if it's a guy thing? I amnot saying that facetiously--my dad and my uncle and my male friends *love* the Airplane movies and Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary and they send me to *hide*.

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

I have a huge humiliation squick. I can't watch "The Office" - even though I love Jim and Pam and ship them hardcore - because of the rest of the show. *shudders*

Also adultery. Cannot stand adultery or cheating, especially when it's carefree.

Character-bashing.

Parent/child incest.

Anything involving sex with children under 14.

Scat, golden showers, bloodplay.

Non-con, rapefic, etc.

I have a whole huge list of stuff that'll make me not click or click out quickly, but most of that is pairing or characterization dependent and also it can shift and depend on the writer etc. But the ones above are pretty hard and fast.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

oh yes. I connect with all of these highly.

Okay, with the rapefic, it's my squick, but it's a context thing as well. If it's writing rape as a rape,not a prelude to true love, then *possibly*.

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

Power relationships - ie, any sort of relationship based solely on an inequality of power. Which is both surprisingly broad and narrow. I can read some BDSM fic (I came from Highlander by way of Buffy and HP. There's a lot out there) because it's about more than that, but anything where the inequality is glaring me in the face- father/child for an SPN example, teacher/student, some of the SG and SGA examples where someone is in obvious command and using that power - they squick me beyond belief.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I tend to like the power play fics *only* in a sexual play context or, variably, when there's an exchange or equalization. It's weird. It honeslty depends on how i read the first three paragraphs, and who teh author is. It does work as a generla rule though--esp the father/child or teacher/student ones.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

In Grey's Anatomy fandom, declaration of true love.

I mean, I have issues with it in any fandom, but in Grey's Anatomy it goes from "Weird, this is not really what I'm reading my trashy ficporn for" to "Oh my GOD, do you not PAY ATTENTION TO THE SOURCE TEXT, do you see what is RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, this is NOT A SHOW ABOUT THAT."

And, you know, it can be. For many people it is. It's not an uncommon thing.

But nothing will make me stop reading faster, and once the implication of True Love is there, the only thing that will keep me reading is if it seems like there's a distinct possibility that it's not so much "love" as "artfully done manipulation".

For the love of crap, people, it's Grey's Anatomy, not The Princess Fucking Bride.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*dies* I think I've heard you speak on this before....

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I'm mulling through my John is not a sociopath post at random moments, because I figured I'd write and post it later next week, and I was laughing to myself because I thought of the perfect example of "yes, I have read and enjoyed sociopathic JOhn and it was a TOTAL AU," namely Crimes Against Humanity. But *everyone* is a sociopath in that one - it's the precondition of the AU, and you still have John and Rodney making a deep emotional connection with each other, and they've all been tortured and stuff. Plus, you do it incredibly well. I can't think of any other sociopath!John story I've read and enjoyed.

Mutilation is like hitting a brick wall. I slam into it and recoil in horror. Check on humiliation too (I never liked Transcendental; the plot setup didn't work for me at all, and the characterization was so bizarre that I read the first quarter thinking it was a parody), which carries over from every book or TV show or movie EVER. I scrunch down in my chair and cover my eyes and hum to block out the dialogue.

Cross-dressing as a sexual fetish is my silver bullet squick. And with SGA, I usually don't want to read "disaster, disability, years pass and nobody gets better" stories.

The character pairings are interesting to ponder, because I can read almost any pairing (I read nothing that includes Kavanagh or Caldwell, because I don't like either of them), but certain of them only work within very narrow interpretations. Usually I'll give it a try, but I find myself finishing significantly less Weir/Sheppard or John/Teyla or Ronon/Carson (whatever) than I do McKay/Sheppard. Those two work for me in a *lot* of circumstances, after all.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I responded to this and lost the entire comment. But.

Aww, thank you! Though honestly, the sociopath AU is so freaking *cracked*. I keep thinking up ways to top myself, and I can actually feel the weirdness that's going to come out of that.

Pairing related--I am way too OTP. I think my biggest problem with my only viable John/other pairing, John/Teyla, is that I have yet to read a story where I can see them as their canon selve and in a relationship. I love the concept, but I cannot find a fic that executes it the way I see it.

[floridapeaches.livejournal.com]

Biggest squick? Embarrassment. God, nothing, I mean nothing bothers me more. And that goes for fic, TV shows, movies, "jokes" that people tell me, etc. etc.

And the really funny thing is, until I had been in fandom for quite some time, I didn't really recognize why some of the fic that I read, that others had rec'd and loved, just ended up making me cringe: why "funny" movies often just made me uncomfortable.

I also have to totally agree with #s 2-4, and 6 and 7. 1 is something that my BURNING NEED OMG to finish a story that I start easily overcomes (even if I don't actually enjoy the story), and I must admit, I find a well written #5 TOTALLY FUCKING HILARIOUS or alternately really, really hot. But only if it doesn't tread onto #2 territory.

Pairing squicks? OH HELL YES. For some shows anyway. SGA being one of them. In all honesty? I have never before experienced having a true OTP, and so I never really got it, but for me to read a story that is something other than John/Rodney, it just about has to be gen. Or at least not pair one of them up with someone else. The only exceptions I really can enjoy is one or the other of them with someone else on the team (or possibly Lorne, because he's adorable:). I can ery happily read OT3 and OT4, as long as everyone is happy, at least by the end (3 Lovers comes to mind), but I don't enjoy misery for the sake of misery, so anything that ends unhappy just isn't fun for me.

It's difficult for me to think of Elizabeth in a sexual context at all, but I can imagine her at least romantically with Zelenka or Lorne. Zelenka I can only stand the thought of with Elizabeth, and the Zelenka/Carson,/Rodney,/John,/anyone else fics actually do squick me.
And don't even get me started on Carson. DEAR GOD. I don't know why, but just the thought of him in a sexual situation makes me vaguely ill. Carson/Cadman was cute on-screen, and if in fic it was mentioned, all's well. But I never, ever, EVER want to read Carson porn. Ever.

And you know, I think that almost all of my pairing squick issues result from the fact that in most stories that I enjoy, there is porn at some point. Whether it's gratuitous or not (and I enjoy well written non-explicit as much as well written explicit), I tend to buy into a story more when there is some sort of intimacy. It's such a part of the human experience for me that a story that is utterly devoid of any form of intimacy/affection/lust/sex/etc. seems very two dimensional. Gen has to be fantastically written, and rec'd by someone I trust for me to take a chance on it. (Christ this is turning into comment meta. Sorry!

And also? Here is probably one of my weirdest little quirks: for stories that are not written by writers I trust (for whom I will read anything they write, indiscriminately, and I will read stories they rec, even if I don't always love them as much as they do), the title is just about the only thing that influences me to read. An author that is unknown to me, and who hasn't been rec'd by someone I trust? The title has to catch my attention for the fic to even be a possibility for me. This works for books, too. Take one of my recent favorites, Between, Georgia; I just happened to be browsing at the library, and that comma caught my eye. And then I had to read. Yes. I know. Weird. ;)

Sorry for the comment-essay! :)

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I hate embarrassment. I hate a character publicly embarrassed. I even hate private or limited-audience embarrassment.

Actually--the title thing makes snese. I got tricked into reading so much SPN due to amazing haiku-like titles. I just love a good title. *grins*

[miss-porcupine.livejournal.com]

My embarrassment squick is loud and proud -- no voyeurism, no humiliation, no variation on the theme. It's why I'm never going to be able to see any Borat movies. I have been known to skip ahead in PWPs that take place in semi-public or public locations just to make sure they don't get caught because I can't handle the possibility of it.

Power issues can be either a kink or a squick and tricking me into thinking it's going to be the former when it's the latter is a mortal sin. Consensual D/s or BDSM (when well written) is awesome, but teacher!fic (oh, X-Men Movieverse) or abuse of any position of authority is a serious squick. Sheppard/Caldwell doesn't gross me out because I never (ever) want to consider Mitch Pileggi in a sexual situation, but because it's always a matter of John fucking to keep his job.

I don't count character bashing as a squick necessarily -- it's a cause to pause, cry "what the hell?!" and then decide whether or not to move on. It doesn't disgust me, except in a meta way when a story featuring such gets wildly praised. It occasionally pisses me off and always makes me wonder what source material the author is using because it certainly ain't mine, but I count this more in the nuts-and-bolts department with things like grammar and vocabulary. You have to know an adverb from an adjective and you have to know, for example, that nobody's going to Atlantis with serious mental illnesses no matter how smart or how pretty their genes are.

However, I do count military bashing as a squick. (Raise your hand if that surprises you.) Homophobic, trigger-happy, morons in uniform will make my blood pressure spike. Homophobic, trigger-happy, morons in uniform who exist only to threaten the Big Gay Love between Rodney and John? It will take personal invitation to touch that author's work again. Very few things in SGA piss me off more than the warping DADT has absorbed to fit people's preconceived notions and OTP angst.

Lack of research is somewhere between annoyance and squick. Even in SGA, sometimes you have to Wiki before you can write credibly.

And, to end, not a squick but a full-blown WTF: now that I'm reading Supernatural fic, even though I'm avoiding RPS and incest (and let's just add those to the squick list without comment), I'm still exposed to them, at least the headers and summaries. And the fact that there is deathfic in RPS is just... I have no words.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*bites lip* Oh X-Men Movieverse....

I know what you're talking about. And some of the really bad writers took it places that scared the rest of us to death.

You have to know an adverb from an adjective and you have to know, for example, that nobody's going to Atlantis with serious mental illnesses no matter how smart or how pretty their genes are.

I really need a place to quote that. That is so perfect it makes me grin and grin. It's so *true*.

However, I do count military bashing as a squick. (Raise your hand if that surprises you.) Homophobic, trigger-happy, morons in uniform will make my blood pressure spike. Homophobic, trigger-happy, morons in uniform who exist only to threaten the Big Gay Love between Rodney and John? It will take personal invitation to touch that author's work again. Very few things in SGA piss me off more than the warping DADT has absorbed to fit people's preconceived notions and OTP angst.

Yes, and allied with the Perfection of the Scientists Who Are Far Far Smarter, Know Better, and Are So Perfectly Tolerant...

Yeah. I have been known to leave *tracks* while running away.

Ahh, SPN. I have a list of really good *long* SPN gens if you want to check them, just tell me. They are pure gen, promise.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

Oh god, humiliation squick is HUGE for me--it took me five months to pick "Ladies Night at the Boom Boom Room" back up after I got to the part where Rodney and John had their little "The twinks are that way" conversation, because I was so embarrassed on Rodney's behalf.
I just can't read John/Elizabeth. So I tend to stay away from that corner of fandom, because it just doesn't mesh with my view of the universe.
Cheating is a big NO. If X and Y are together and are committed and X decides that Z looks pretty cute and wants to give that a test run, then by god they'd better break it off with Y first.
When you split up the A-Team into an OT3, I've got a big issue. I can deal with them being paired off within the team, but I hate when one of them is left out entirely.

[druidspell.livejournal.com]

Also incest. It's why I can only read SPN gen fic.

[ceares.livejournal.com]

Oh, the humiliation thing! I will literally walk out of the room til it's over on a t.v. show or movie. Skim past quickly in a fic if the rest of the fic is really good or just delete other wise.

I'm full of squicks, some of which you named above and you know there's not enough time in the world for me to read all the fic I'd like to and still function as a human being, so my philosophy is why waste time on stuff that is making me cringe?

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*hee* Yes, exactly. If it makes you cringe, don't go there. I am totally with you.

[nymphaea1.livejournal.com]

#2 I share absolutely completely. And it's become worse the longer I spend in fandom. In Smallville I could like it, but in SGA I'm really finding it deeply creepy. #7 isn't so much of a squick as a huge personal irritant, but I agree with the sentiment.

Inequality in general is a huge personal squick. If I get the feeling the author's pushing down one character to prop up another, even if the one she's propping up is my personal OTC, instant back-button.

Rodney/Ronon. In any context.

The entire concept of the fandom woobie. I can't even really abide it in meta anymore, let alone fic.

The longer I'm in SGA, the more rigid the squicks and tastes have become, too.

Me too. Usually I try to be enlightened and tell myself it's just a matter of opinion and I should be happy fandom has so many different ways to look at things. I'm usually even moderately successful at that unless I encounter things like John the sociopath, the word Kirk or John the emotionless robot who's never had a friend in his entire life.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

There's this entire--non-con-but-he-really-likes-it thing that just loses me. I get it's in that case fantasy or crack, but I cant' go there. I really do think Pru's Cartography broke something in me with that. I still read it with a faint sick feeling and I can't even go near vague non-con for a while after.

Me too. Usually I try to be enlightened and tell myself it's just a matter of opinion and I should be happy fandom has so many different ways to look at things. I'm usually even moderately successful at that unless I encounter things like John the sociopath, the word Kirk or John the emotionless robot who's never had a friend in his entire life.

I have learned the fine art of the venting into AIM or YAHOO until the urge to growl recedes. It sometimes take a while.

[snarkist.livejournal.com]

See, it's totally okay that you have all sorts of random squicks, because everbody does. A lot of it is just how we see characters, and what we think they would or wouldn't do, but really, everyone has these things they just don't like to read. And while some people probably think some things, like sex slaves, are hella hot, I'm just not one of them. And that's cool, too.

There are some things I just can't get past, like BDSM. I just... can't do it. I don't care how amazingly well written the fiction is, as soon as someone whips out a collar, or forces someone to shut up and get on their knees, I'm all, "Back! No, avert eyes!"

Also, I totally agree with the partner betrayal thing. It almost physically hurts me to read it. And the worst part about that squick is that most of the time, you have no idea it's gonna happen until you're reading it. By then, it's way too late, and your heart has been shattered. Oy. It's like when this one story I read, called "Somewhere I Never Travelled," which I love like nothing else, had a bit written later that totally BROKE. MY. HEART. *g* Just saying, as an example.

Anyhoo, I don't see any reason why people should have to excuse their squicks, or even their kinks for that matter. Everyone has different things they want or don't want to read, and that's what makes huge amount of options for fic in fandom so totally awesome.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*eyes you* I am EVIL okay? But in my defense, Madelyn egged me on. Or existed. The orignal storyine was going ot be Clark cheating with Lana.

AND THAT SNIPPET ISN'T REALLY OFFICIAL! IT IS NOT ON MY WEBPAGE!

[enname.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha. If I listed the number of my squicks and issues we'd be here for a long, long time and you'd probably end up deleting my comment. A lot of them are character based (as in STOP IT WITH DODGY FANON it is lazy) and there are few exceptions as to who I will read them from. A lot of them revolve around Rodney actually, almost as much as John. There are a good number of story tropes, porn tropes, and god knows what else. Generally I just don't talk about them because yeah, if you are not in the squeeing then there is something wrong with you.

I will not read Ronon in a sexual situation, just can't. Can't. Argh. He reminds me of my brother and this is a no. No, no, no, no, no, no. I am developing a John/Teyla squick a mile wide, care of canon. Can't read John/Weir and .. ok I'll admit it. I am hideously OTP. This is my own issue though and just involves sticking my head very deeply into the sand.

Kidfic is an enduring one that will provoke the worst reaction in me ever, same as RPS (there are rants and rants about this and it even involves my own study), I dislike bdsm, I hate the idea of post rescue the turning around and yelling at someone from relief, I am sick of people being shoved into walls in sex, anyone saying 'I love you' will scar me for life, non-con and rape (barring about two people who actually explore properly), 'darkfic' which always turns out to be something horrendous, hurt comfort cause the hurt is so deliberate, MENSA Aus cause well... just no ... and so on and so forth ad infinitum.

:P

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Yes. And it feels weird when like, half your flist is squeeing and you're sitting there thinking, um....ewww, no. Or even a generlaized 'Hmm, this didn't work for me' but everyone else loved it. Gah.

I love your last paragraph *so much*. *grins*

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

Wow, I was about to respond to your comment to me, but I might as well answer here :D

I hear you on the various squicks or issues you don't like to read. Mine are a bit different (kid!language prevents me from reading two very highly recced series by authors whose writing I usually enjoy), but some of the central ones are quite similar, mainly betrayal and humiliation.

I think the most interesting thing I'm taking from this post is that but sometimes--and this is just sometimes--I get the crazy feeling that it's not quite done anymore to have fairly specific tastes in fic, or to not like something due to those tastes, and the warnings debates had a side issue wandering through in a few ljs that seemed to emphasize the fact that if you have an issue with a particular kind of fic, you have a serious problem. is really not as true as it sometimes seems. I mean, every meta discussion I have, i get told again and again about how everyone reads for literary aesthetic value and noone likes the stranglehold of warnings etc. but given the fact that we still use them all the time and reading the comments to this post...I still believe that many of us do read along very specific guidelines and demands...they may be wider (anything as long as John is in it) or very, very narrow. But I don't think we should apologize for them!!!

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

omg...i just went to your site to see if any of your stories ever squicked me...and realized that you could take my comment easily to mean teacher's pet as one of the series. (which it wasn't, b/c WiP and me are not good friends, so I don't think I ever even started it, but the kids definitely don't have me itching to read it like Crimes Against Humanity which I conscientiously save and wait to read...)

If it'd been your story, I'd actually spelled it out...honest :D

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

I cannot read partner betrayal for the exact same reason you stated. It kills me, makes me go off and cry and that plus calculus class means that I could accidentally slit my wrists without noticing in time.

Besides that, I know I've hit the back button on enough fics that there must be a pattern, but haven't had time to analyze it.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*nods* Some of mine I'm just discovering are actual patterns and not just a feeling of off. It's very freeing. I can glance and say NO NO NO! and then run the other way. Happily.

[droolfangrrl.livejournal.com]

Anything that reads like a bad harliquin romance.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*g* I've read those for horrifically guilty pleasure. I just have to avoid until I'm *really in teh mood* to go there and be ready to skip parts that I know will have me freaking out.